TAMPA - USF head coach Jim Leavitt announced that the football team will honor the memory of former player Keeley Dorsey throughout the 2009 season.
During each game, a player will wear the No. 10 jersey that Dorsey wore for the Bulls during the 2006 season.
Dorsey passed away after a team conditioning workout on January 17, 2007 and the 2009 campaign would have been his senior season.
The idea to honor Dorsey began with equipment manager Jeremy Lees, who watched Missouri seniors honor former player Aaron O'Neal by wearing his No. 25 jersey during games in 2008.
Lees and the senior class took the idea to the Coach Leavitt during the preseason and agreed upon starting the initiative.
Senior defensive lineman Aaron Harris will wear the No. 10 jersey for the season opener against Wofford. Matt Grothe and George Selvie have requested games, but Lees said no games are firm yet.
USF had to approve the idea with the NCAA and will notify the opponent, referees and stat crew prior to each game.
USF also announced that prior to the season opener against Wofford, it will hold a moment of silence for alum Will Bleakley, Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, and NFL free agent Corey Smith, who all passed away on a boating expedition this spring. Former USF walk-on Nick Schuyler survived the expedition and has spoken for the first time over the last month.
Dorsey, who attended Lincoln High in Tallahassee, played in eight games his freshman season at USF, collecting 66 yards on 10 rushes.
In his first game for the Green and Gold, Dorsey broke for a 52-yard touchdown run, the final play of USF's 41-0 season-opening victory over McNeese State on Sept. 2, 2006.
Dorsey was 19 years old.
Wofford Gameday Central
